Back to Life
by Wolfie0103
Summary: This is set just before Harry's glorious (not) fifth year, after his hearing. Just your normal James-comes-back-to-life au.
1. Lightning Strike

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling wouldn't do this - she likes torturing us too much.**

 **Yes, I have run out of witty things to put in my disclaimers.**

 **Is this allowed to run for the whole thing?**

 **It is now.**

 **Read the summary above for a summary (surprise, surprise), please read and REVIEW and I apologise if I write the characters badly - also, I am definitely NOT copying this storyline off anyone else.**

 **I've never done one of these before, so I'm flying unchecked -**

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The wind moaned, its heavy breeze swirling through the tiny village of Godric's Hollow, soaking rain quickly following after it. Flashes of lightning ripped through the dark, cloudy sky, closely followed with booms of echoing thunder. The storm was one of the most awful ever seen on Halloween. Everyone was decisively staying indoors, so no one noticed the lightning forks getting closer and closer to the ground. Until, with a sound like a car backfiring, one hit, and a man stumbled out.

Any ordinary person would've been very confused by the appearance of the man - he was dressed in a long, coat-like object that was tatty and frayed. Underneath he had on a simple shirt, although dirty, and black trousers. He was quite tall, and had well defined muscles, evidence of several years playing sports. His jet black hair was ruffled and unkempt, and his hazel eyes were hidden behind Windsor glasses. His face was frozen in a look of bewilderment and hurt as he gazed upon the wrecked house he stood in front of.

"Lily… Harry… no…" he muttered, falling to his knees in the manner of a man who'd lost it all. And, in a way, he had. "My Lily… my darling… my beautiful son… I'm so sorry." The man stayed that way for a long time, heedless of the pouring rain, and the thunder and lightning. He was absorbed in all-consuming grief. It wasn't until bells in the nearby church signaled it was one in the morning before he was disturbed. Looking up at the clock, James Potter mumbled under his breath, "I've got to see Dumbledore," before disapparating with a loud crack.

James stumbled back into the Forbidden Forest, right next to the Hogwarts grounds. He shook his head to clear his thoughts - Apparation always made his head spin - and set off. He sidled into the Entrance Hall, and headed up to Dumbledore's office, not pausing to consider his surroundings. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of the stone guardian, having no idea of the password.

"Uh… Ice Mice? Nope. Cockroach Cluster? Nope. Erm, what were those Muggle sweets Lily said he liked?" James felt the grief roar up inside of him at the thought of Lily and pushed it quickly back down in case he was overcome like at Godric's Hollow. "Sherbet, er, Strawberries? No, that's not it…"

"Mr Potter? You have no reason to be here. You're meant to be with Mr Weasley and Ms Granger at Grimmauld may have been just released from a hearing, but it's hardly the right time to talk to Professor Dumbledore. Students are not permitted at Hogwarts over the summer!" James smiled thinly to himself, as he turned slowly around. The one and only Professor McGonagall, appearing in every single time of need.

"Minnie, you should know by now that I am no longer a student - or are you simply not keen on letting me go?" McGonagall's books dropped to the floor with a crash, and she gaped like a fish at James. Her face was steadily whitening. James was rather confused by this.

"What's up, Minnie? You look like you've seen a ghost." His words did not soothe the professor - in fact, she looked worse. Then she stepped up to the statue and pronounced in a quavering voice, "Rock Cakes." James shook his head and followed his clearly terrified ex-teacher up the winding stairs that led to the Headmaster's office. He couldn't work out why McGonagall was so petrified - or, in fact, why she seemed a lot older than the last time he'd seen her. He was fairly sure that she had less lines on her face, and her hair had been less grey. Suddenly, they reached the top of the stairs, and McGonagall knocked smartly on the door. James couldn't help but notice her hands were shaking.

"Come in," called the pleasant voice of Dumbledore. McGonagall entered.

"Albus, look who I've found lurking outside your office." Her voice was clearly suppressing emotion of some sort as she beckoned James into the office, her eyes overbright, and her lips pressed together. As soon as Dumbledore caught sight of James, weary and dirty as he was, the previously standing man sat down heavily into his chair.

"No… this is impossible." McGonagall had hid her face behind a shaking hand, and Dumbledore had the air of a man whose knowledge of the world had been shattered. James realised it was a good time to press his point - the whole reason he'd come.

"Dumbledore, Lily and Harry are dead. You probably have guessed by now - why else would I turn up on your doorstep? Anyway, I saw the house. It's been blown to bits. I-" He stopped as Dumbledore raised a trembling hand.

"James, what was Lily's reaction to hearing the prophecy?" James knotted his eyebrows together. Why was Dumbledore asking this? But he decided to humour the old man.

"She said, 'That dirty son of a snake is never coming near my family.',if I remember correctly. But I don't see why-" He was interrupted again by Dumbledore, who turned to McGonagall.

"Only James, Frank, Alice and Lily could have known that. It's him." McGonagall was looking dissatisfied, and both teachers were ignoring James, who was stuck in a growing state of confusion.

"What about Pettigrew?" James clenched his teeth when he heard Peter's name. He would deal with that lowlife traitor at a later date. Meanwhile Dumbledore shook his head, oblivious to James's reaction.

"We told Peter, Remus and Sirius about it at a later date. Now, Minerva, if you could set James up in the hospital wing, I think we shall talk to the current inhabitants of No. 12, Grimmauld Place, tomorrow, about the turn of events." McGonagall nodded. James looked at his hands and saw they were covered in scratches, and imagined his head to look the same (he had walked through the Forbidden Forest) but dismissed them as minor injuries. He'd had worse. It was time to act on his muddled thoughts.

"Dumbledore, what in Merlin's name is going on?" Dumbledore just looked at him sadly.

"James, what do you think the year is?" James shrugged.

"That's easy - 1981." McGonagall looked like she was about to cry again, and Dumbledore gazed at him with those startlingly blue, penetrating eyes.

"It's 1995, James. You've been dead for 14 years."

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 **OOOOH!**

 **I feel a long wait coming on -** _ **dodges Bat-bogey hex**_ **\- I'm kidding!**

 **Next time, Dumbledore interrupts the festivities of No. 12 Grimmauld Place - owing to the fact Harry got off - with the news about James. I can't wait to write it!**

 **Please tell me what you think about the story so far - please review, and I'll try to update as soon as I can!**

 **Fangirl0103**


	2. Revelation

**Hi!**

 **I can't believe the responses I got to the first chapter - it really made me feel happy. As I said before, I got so excited about this chapter, because it was so cool to write. I have no outline, so this story could go anywhere. I hope you like how I write the characters, obviously I could never beat JK Rowling (disclaimer - I am not her, this does not belong to me, boo hoo, moving on). Just warning you, all the actual mushy Harry-meets-James/marauders-get-back-together stuff happens in the next chapter. Also, I think most of the story will be in either James or Harry's perspective, but if there is a POV change, I'll let you know.**

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With a thump, James flung himself back into the pillows of his bed, his head reeling from the information Dumbledore had given him. 14 years. He'd been dead - DEAD - for 14 years. What'd happened? Was the war still going on? He knew nothing of the world outside, not anymore. He noticed Madam Pomfrey hurrying out of her office, and had a strike of genius. The _Daily Prophet_. Surely he could find out everything he needed to know in that.

"Poppy?" Madam Pomfrey whirled around at this, although when she saw who had asked, she rolled her eyes.

"I should probably get used to this. Honestly, the amount of times I had you in here, and just when I thought I'd never see you in my ward again, you pop out of thin air. I don't know what to do with you. What is it?"

"I don't suppose you could give me a _Daily Prophet_? I really would like to catch up with events in the Wizarding World." James used his most charming voice, and gave her the all-powerful puppy-dog eyes (he wasn't sure if they worked, now he was a grown up, but it was worth a shot) but Madam Pomfrey still bit her lip and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, James, Dumbledore said it would be better if you got it from… others. But I can tell you what I know, if you like."

James shrugged. It would have to do.

"So, er… what happened to Voldemort?" He ignored her flinch, he was well used to it by now. He didn't understand what possessed people to not speak his name, but it was ridiculous - Voldemort was going to kill you either way. As Dumbledore said, 'Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself.' "I'm assuming he didn't win, since you're all still here."

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"He was defeated the night you died - by Harry." "

Harry? Harry, the 1 ½ year-old defeated the Darkest Wizard of all time?"

"Yes. I'm not sure entirely on the details, Dumbledore keeps them secret, but little baby Harry escaped with just a lightning scar. You-Know-Who disappeared that night, nobody knows where." James felt an elation surging up in him that he hadn't felt since he appeared in front of his old house at Godric's Hollow. Harry was alive?

"So? What happened to Harry?"

"Um… I'll leave Harry to tell you." Madam Pomfrey was so evidently skirting around the question, it left James with a great dissatisfaction. Before he could question her further, however, the Hospital Wing door flew open, and Professor Dumbledore walked in.

"How's our patient doing, Poppy?"

James butted in before Madam Pomfrey could answer.

"The patient would like to know when he can see his son! Oh, and he wants to get out of this stupid bed." Dumbledore chuckled, his trademark twinkle in his eyes.

"I can see you haven't changed much. I'm afraid you can't see Harry yet - he doesn't know you exist, after all. I have plans to tell him, and the rest of the current residents of Grimmauld Place, just as soon as I have checked up on you. As for when you get out of bed, I shall leave that to Madam Pomfrey, but I daresay you'll be sleeping in the Gryffindor Dormitories tonight. I promise, when you see Harry, I'm sure he'll catch you up on anything you've missed over the past few years. Well, Poppy, I'll leave you to get on with it, shall I?" Madam Pomfrey nodded tersely, and Dumbledore exited. James immediately looked at Madam Pomfrey. She tsked.

"You can get out of bed, and explore the castle - chat to the professors if you wish. You're free to go. But remember," she called out to James as he eagerly bounded out of bed and headed for the door, "if you feel anything weird, come straight back here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Harry's POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ginny, Fred and George were dancing a sort of war dance in the corner, chanting

"He got off, he got off, he got off!", Mrs Weasley was cooking a delicious spread, including Harry's favourite treacle tart, Ron was slapping Harry on the back repeatedly, and Hermione was telling anyone who'd listen that it was perfectly reasonable, and the Ministry could have been sued if they'd expelled Harry. Only Sirius was looking slightly downcast, but Harry reckoned that was only because he was disappointed that Harry wasn't coming to live with him. Personally, Harry felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. The evening was only made better by Remus coming in. When asked why exactly he had come, he told them Dumbledore had sent him an owl. Then he stepped forward to wring Harry's hand and congratulate him on not getting expelled. So it was to nobody's surprise when Dumbledore flooed in.

"Ah, Dumbledore, right on schedule. Would you like some treacle tart? We're celebrating." Mrs Weasley was brandishing a knife, somehow keeping a welcoming smile on her face and making sure the twins didn't sneak any pudding before anyone else.

"Of course, I'd love some, Molly, but I have some news to announce first. You may want to sit down."

Everyone looked around, confused, but reluctantly sank into seats or sofas. Dumbledore took a deep breath, and this was the first thing that Harry realised was off. Dumbledore looked nervous, and Dumbledore was never nervous, or at least, very rarely.

"A man apparated into the Forbidden Forest late last night." Harry cocked an eyebrow, and he could see that others were doing the same. Sirius got up to serve himself a slice of pie, missing the glare Mrs Weasley sent him. He'd obviously decided that it didn't concern him. "The man looked like someone who had been thought to be dead for 14 years, and after some questioning, we confirmed it." Hermione was starting to look worriedly at Dumbledore, and Remus was growing steadily paler, but whatever they'd caught on to, everyone else was oblivious. Harry and Ron shared a look; they still had no idea how this related to them. Sirius was still serving pie for himself.

"I know you might not believe me at first, and even I do not understand how he could've returned, but he is definitely who he says he is. There's no doubt about it. James Potter is alive."

There was an almighty crash, and everyone's heads whipped around to stare at Sirius, who'd dropped his plate. He was as white as a sheet, and his eyes were filled with tears. His mouth opened and closed wordlessly, and he shook his head slowly. Remus got up, and led him back to his seat. Sirius sank down and put his head in his hands. Harry's thoughts were whizzing chaotically around his head. His dad, alive? That was impossible. Remus seemed to think so too.

"Dumbledore, nothing can bring people back from the dead. James can't be alive. You know that."

Dumbledore sighed. "I am well aware of it, Remus. However, I checked thoroughly. I asked him a question only Lily, James, Frank and Alice knew the answer to, and when he was asleep, I used a spell on him, the one that reveals an Animagus shape. He transformed into a deer - it's definitely him, Remus." At this, Remus mimicked Sirius and sank into the chair next to him. Everyone in the room was focused on the two apart from Ron and Hermione, who were looking at Harry with an expression of part-joy, part-worry. They needn't have worried. Harry's emotions were going wild with happiness. He couldn't believe that the father he had lost years ago was now back.

"When can I go see him?" His quiet voice echoed with a desperate need to see his father. Sirius looked at him with an expression that Harry knew must be mirrored on his own. However, Sirius' face soon fell.

"That is, if he's in his right mind?"

Dumbledore smiled kindly.

"Oh, yes. I believe he is still grieving for Lily, but that was understandable. He perked right up when he heard Harry was still alive. Funnily enough, he asked the exact same question as Harry did." Harry felt joy erupt inside of him. His father _loved_ him, and from what Sirius and Remus had told him beforehand, and what Dumbledore was saying now, they were very similar. "I think tomorrow would be a good time for James to be reintroduced to the world. He nodded, and sat down with a slice of treacle tart. The celebrations started again with even more vigour. Ginny, Fred and George were now currently dancing in circles, Bill was smiling and hugging his mother, who had rosy cheeks and a huge grin, Mr Weasley was having an enthusiastic conversation with Dumbledore about the possibilities of coming back to life, and Ron and Hermione were talking, although about completely (kind of) different subjects. Ron was dreaming of the look on Snape's face when he heard James had come back to life, Hermione was wondering if she could ask James about some nasty hexes to defend herself for the war - after all, as a Muggleborn, Hermione was in danger, and James had been an Auror in the first Wizarding War. He would probably know some decent spells. Harry was not really listening. He was engaged in a hug with Sirius and Remus, perhaps the only true people in the room who could relate to the warm, fuzzy, feeling in his heart. None of them realised they had tears of joy pouring down their faces.

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 **Wow. That was really fun to write! As you've probably guessed, the next chapter will be everyone meeting. Especially Snape. Major fluff. I hope you're all grateful about the early update - as a reader, I find it so annoying when I'm reading a super good fanfiction and it doesn't update quickly, or it's not complete, so I'm going to try and update as regularly as I can, which should be every one or two days. As always, please read and review. Thank you!**

 **Fangirl0103.**

 **P.S. If anyone wants to read another really good James-is-alive fic, I recommend Return of the Father by Stars Enchantress - it's really, really good. Also, if anyone knows about more good ones of this sort, please tell me - I am looking for more to read. Thanks!**


	3. Meetings

**I'm really sorry for not updating sooner, I've just been really snowed down with stuff. I've also had a serious (no pun intended) writer's block. I'm thinking, I probably should warn you - I have a severely short attention span. If this story doesn't get updated within a week - and I know all too well that's pretty good for some authors - I haven't abandoned you, finally revealed my Muggleborn powers, got my Hogwarts letter and left to destroy Voldemort. I promise you, this should (hopefully) been worth the wait.**

 **Disclaimer: If the Harry Potter books were mine, Sirius would still be alive. I just have to deal with writing fanfiction under my Gryffindor blanket.**

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Harry stretched his arms and yawned as he got out of bed. Rubbing his sleep-filled, bleary eyes, he slowly shuffled down to the kitchen, hoping that Mrs Weasley was up doing breakfast. He was really tired, but he didn't really remember last night. He knew they hadn't got to sleep until really, really late last night. He entered the kitchen, seeing scrambled eggs on toast and silently cursing the cold stone floor.

"Alright, Prongslet?" Harry turned around to see Sirius sitting in a chair with his legs on the table, grinning. Remus was next to him, smiling gently and rolling his eyes.

"Why.. you've never called me Prongslet before…" Harry stuttered. Sirius just smiled wider.

"I guess you probably don't remember that's the nickname we called you when your parents were alive. It was too painful after their deaths but now…" Harry knitted his brows together, and last night came rushing back to him. His dad was alive. Grinning, Harry sat down to his plate of scrambled eggs.

"Alright, Harry, are you ready?" Harry nodded, excitement twirling his insides as he took a handful of Floo powder from Mrs Weasley. Dumbledore had told them that, in order to settle James in, they could stay at Hogwarts until the new term started. Which was great, as it meant that Harry got over 3 weeks with his dad. After that, well, who knows? Dumbledore said they would think about that when it happened.

"Now, Harry, say it nice and clearly. We don't want a repeat of last time." Mrs Weasley shuddered at the mention of it.

"What happened last time?" Sirius asked, curious. Remus also listened. Ginny and Mr and Mrs Weasley rolled their eyes, but everyone else chuckled.

"Well, last time, Harry hadn't used Floo powder before, and he coughed on the ashes. He landed in Knockturn Alley instead of Diagon Alley." Ron chortled.

To everyone's surprise, it was Remus who laughed, not Sirius. He looked positively frightened.

"I've always wanted to visit Knockturn Alley." Remus pondered. Sirius immediately gave an involuntary shudder.

"No, you don't, Remus. My dad took my brother and me one day, to check his investments in Borgin and Burkes were being put to good use. Creepy place. Although, Harry," and at this new thought his eyes glittered teasingly, "you say you got there because you coughed?"

"Layoff, Sirius." Harry grumbled good-naturedly, as everyone laughed.

He stepped into the fireplace, shouted "Hogwarts!" and disappeared before anyone could tease him anymore about his first, failed attempt at Floo powder.

James creaked his eyelids open, and smiled at the comfortably familiar surroundings. He had insisted sleeping in the Gryffindor dorms, and Madam Pomfrey didn't argue with him, although she did quite a bit of glaring. The only teachers he had encountered yet were McGonagall and Dumbledore, because the latter thought it might be best if the least people knew about James' miraculous return, the better. He pulled on his new robes (discreetly purchased from Hogsmeade) and strolled down to the breakfast surely awaiting him in the kitchens.

"Oh, Master James, Master James! We had heard about your return, and Sparkles hoped it was true, and it was!" The small, teal-eyed house elf James so vividly remembered as having rather a weak spot for him almost bowled him over. "What would you like, sir? Bacon? Poached eggs? Sausages?"

James smiled. "Sausages and toast will be fine, Sparkles." As the - well, sparkly - house elf hurried off, she was replaced with another, green-eyed, long-nosed elf.

"What's your name? James asked kindly.

"Dobby, sir, just Dobby. Dobby has heard of the greatness of yourself from your son, and Dobby thinks you look just like him, sir." The elf pulled on his gigantic ears. James raised an eyebrow interestedly.

"You know Harry?"

"Oh, yes, Dobby knows Harry Potter!" The elf squeaked while nodding frantically. "Harry Potter is the kindest, bravest wizard ever. A true Gryffindor!" James beamed at the fact that Harry was a Gryffindor. Soon, James' breakfast was ready, and he spent most of it chatting to the elves. Finally he finished, and headed up to meet Dumbledore in his office at 10.

"Harry, Sirius, Remus and his companions just flooed in." Dumbledore announced as soon as James entered the office. James immediately went to turn right back around, but Dumbledore made to stop him. "Remember, James, it's been 14 years. They've grown older."

James shrugged and went out the door to try and find them.

James heard the chatter of voices in the Entrance Hall, but he assumed it was the professors. After all, students had just arrived at Hogwarts over the summer. He pushed open the door, and made for the Great Hall, accidentally knocking into someone on the way. He murmured a quick "Sorry," and made for the door to the Great Hall, but suddenly froze in his tracks. That hair… the eyes… the face… he turned around to see Sirius, visibly weathered and much older, but still him, staring back at him. No one around them had realised what had happened, and were still chatting amiably. That was, until Sirius shouted, "JAMES!" and tackled James in a huge hug. Everything went deathly quiet, broken only by sobs of joy, coming from Sirius. James couldn't believe it - he'd found his other half. The two clutched at each other, both teary, both trying to hide it because 'men' didn't cry, and failing miserably for the next minute. It was broken by a cough and the two split apart, beaming. Remus stood there, scarred, older, tougher, but was still bowled over by James' enthusiastic hug and shout of "Remus!" James squeezed Remus until the latter started to hit him, and finally let go only when Remus started to moan, "James! JAMES! I can't breathe!". He waited for Remus to catch his breath and straighten up. He finally did, and smiled.

"As much as I am glad you are pleased to see me, don't you want to say hi to Harry?" They laughed as James looked around frantically.

"Where is he?"

"I'm here, um. Dad." James whirled around at the sound of a voice behind him, and was met by an almost carbon copy of himself as a fifteen year old. Except Harry had Lily's eyes. The exact shape and colour of Lily's eyes.

"Harry?" Harry nodded sheepishly, and James realised the atmosphere was a bit tense. No one knew how either of them were going to react. So, James thought, when life is weird, make a joke. "Er, do you wanna hug, or are you too cool for that?" Harry grinned, but walked over and hugged him all the same. It was a little awkward, but then it was bound to be.

James grinned and looked down at his son. He couldn't believe how much Harry looked like him. At last, Harry let go, and James could see the utter joy that was swirling through his eyes. Just like Lily's.

"So, what have you been getting up to? No one's told me anything, I need to know." James pouted, and Harry laughed, along with Sirius and Remus.

"Er, well, I'd like you to meet my best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger." Ron and Hermione stepped forward. James grinned and addressed Ron.

"So what number Weasley are you?" Ron smiled.

"I'm number 6."

"He's basically my Sirius, Dad." Harry jutted in. "And then there's Hermione, the cleverest witch in the year."

Hermione blushed and smiled nervously.

"Hello, Mr Potter." James grimaced.

"Please. James. Anything but Mr Potter." Sirius smirked.

"Alright Janice, want to come into the Great Hall? We're going to have a catch-up/baby stories meeting."

As Sirius pulled Remus into the Hall, ("Come on, attendance is necessary for all people.") James caught sight of Severus Snape, standing on a staircase with his mouth opening and closing in shock. James saw Harry glare at Snape out the corner of his eye, and decided to have a little fun.

"Alright, Snivelly?" he called. Snape turned and practically fled back up the staircase, before getting stuck in the trick stair. Seeing that it made everyone laugh, James winked at Harry, and strolled into the hall, smirking. Life was looking up.

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 **Finally! I got it finished! I'm so, so happy. Next chapter, I am basically going to talk about Harry's four years at Hogwarts, along with anecdotes about Harry's baby years and Marauder years. I might include a bit of comedy with Fred and George finding out about who the Marauders actually are.**

 **PLEASE READ AND REVIEW as always.**

 **See you next chapter,**

 **Fangirl0103**


	4. Breakfast

**Sorry it took so long, I was really busy reading and editing my friend's fanfiction (I might post it for her if I can get the rights.) So, yeah, sorry about that. Anyway, happy reading!**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm JK Rowling.**

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As the Weasley/Potter clans moved their way slowly into Great Hall following Sirius and Remus, Harry reflected on how cool his father was. It wasn't anybody who could send Snape racing up the stairs in horror. As they got in, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys started laughing - Sirius and Remus had magicked a banner that said, "Welcome back, James!" All the teachers apart from McGonagall and Dumbledore were either looking terrified, confused or a mixture of both. As they watched, Sirius slung an arm around McGonagall's shoulder and proclaimed, "Here's to our boy! Minnie, aren't you glad!"

McGonagall pushed his arm off.

"Mr Black, sit down and start eating breakfast before I hex you." Sirius saluted her and plonked himself into the seat next to her. Remus slid into the adjacent seat, and everyone else took their respective places. Fred and George looked like their birthdays had come. James suddenly realised something.

"Hey, what happened to the Marauder's Map?"

Harry started laughing, and was joined by Ron, Hermione, Fred and George. Everyone else just looked confused.

"What's the Marauder's Map?" Mrs Weasley questioned, eyebrow raised. Harry looked at Fred and George, who shrugged. It was bound to get out at some point.

"The Map is a magical map of Hogwarts with seven secret tunnels to Hogsmeade, and some charm on it to reveal where anyone is. Fred and George stole it off Filch in their first year, and gave it to me in my third. It's been really useful."

Fred and George nodded.

"Yeah, we owe Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs big time."

James, Sirius and Remus started silently laughing.

"Aah, the Map always was useful." Sirius reminisced, smiling. Fred and George's eyes widened.

"You had the Map?"

"Oh, yeah. Used it all the time. Best pranksters Hogwarts has ever seen, right Minnie?"

McGonagall shook her head in despair.

"As far as I can tell, you're still beating the twins by about 100 detentions." Sirius and Remus high-fived.

"Did you know the Marauders?" Fred asked, while George looked on, almost awestruck.

"Yeah, we could say that." James said in an off-handed way. Then he lowered his voice. "In fact, I'll tell you a secret. They're at this very table." The twins looked around eagerly, whilst Sirius and Remus started laughing so hard they could barely breathe. When they'd calmed down, James raised his voice to say, "Mr Padfoot, you wouldn't mind reenacting scene 3 of the Christmas of '76?"

Sirius grinned in an evil way.

"Of course not, my dear Prongs." He picked up the plate of toast next to him and slammed it in Remus' face. Everyone went completely still and silent. "Minnie, if Moony tries to attack me, I expect you to protect me," Sirius muttered out of the side of his mouth. McGonagall rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams, Black." Suddenly Remus started laughing, and pointed at Fred and George, who looked absolutely flabbergasted. They aroused from their shock with a jump.

"YOU'RE THE MARAUDERS!" George yelled, then he turned to Harry. "You've got Marauder blood? No wonder you're so good at pranks."

Fred grinned.

"Georgie, boy, this means we were taught by Moony!" Then his face turned to confusion. "Hey, what about Wormtail?" The Marauders faces darkened.

"Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew, who betrayed James and Lily." Remus uttered quickly.

"Scabbers." Ron interjected. The twins' faces, that had been gloomy at the word 'betrayed' lightened.

"Our pet rat was a Marauder?" Everyone laughed at their reactions. James finally turned back to Harry.

"Uh, what else have you done? I only know so much. What happened?"

Harry looked at Ron and somehow reached a silent agreement.

"I'll tell you a few facts later, in private. But somethings I think are okay. Like how we drove a flying car to school in our second year."

James laughed.

"You flew a car to school? Damn, even Sirius and I didn't do that on our bike. You've beaten us. And, er, is Trelawney still around?"

Everyone started cracking up.

"Oh yeah, she predicts my death every lesson. Always painfully. I remember she saw a load of Grims in my third year, but that's because Sirius was around." Harry grinned at his godfather, who had a dreamy look on his face.

"I remember that. She predicted all the class's deaths - went round to each of us in turn."

All of them started cracking up.

"Oh, and Malfoy got turned into a ferret in fourth year." Ron smiled happily remembering, and all the kids grinned in fond memory. James turned to Sirius.

"Malfoy?"

"Lucius' kid. Sort of like their Snape."

"Aaah."

Dumbledore stood up.

"It is reaching the end of breakfast - I'm sure you've all got a lot of work to do. Now, unfortunately, the Ministry has found us a new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, but we have received intelligence that she wouldn't be teaching you any practical work, only theory." Everyone looked at each other in complaint, but Dumbledore held his hand up. "I'm not done quite yet. Therefore, I have seen fit to create a new opening of Defensive Spells to fourth years and up - who, after all, are the ones most likely fighting the upcoming war with Voldemort. I already have a few applicants for the jobs and you Hogwarts students will find out who they are when you start back at school. That's all." Everyone erupted into interested chatter, debating who the teacher would be, and James turned to Harry.

"Hey, Prongslet, didn't you want to tell me something?"

Harry sighed.

"Might as well get it out of the way. I'll get Sirius - he needs to be there too." Harry dodged through the crowd, tugged on Sirius's sleeve, whispered something in his ear, then beckoned to James, and the three of them left the hall together. Ron, Hermione and Remus made sure no one else followed after them.

* * *

 **Yeah, yeah, I know - this is a whole lot shorter than the other chapters. And I left you a cliffy - in regards to which, please do not kill me if I don't update soon. Despite what my friends believe, I do actually have a life outside fanfiction. Rest assured, he next chapter will be full of drama (mwa ha ha ha). The story isn't actually going to go on for that much longer - I don't really like super long stories. It will be the next chapter, another one during the holidays, the one on the first day back, one of the first day of lessons, another on a day of lessons, and an epilogue. I'm basically writing about everything I see as important, and condensing everything else into paragraphs, because I am hopeless at waffling. Sorry, but I hope the chapters will make up for it.**

 **Fangirl0103**


	5. Privacy

**PLEASE DO NOT KILL ME!**

 **I am so, so sorry I didn't update sooner - I had a life for once (I know, amazing right?). I also had horrendous writer's block, and was thoroughly plagued by it for a good few weeks - although every time I see reviews I keep expecting to get curses.**

 **I'm going to combine two chapters into one here, otherwise they'd be ridiculously short. And even this combined chapter isn't that long.**

 **Will this chapter succeed in saving me? I hope it will. I'll only know if you guys review -** _ **hint hint**_ **.**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, there's no way in hell I'm JK Rowling.**

* * *

Harry quietly led Sirius and his father from the hall into an abandoned, dusty classroom that looked like it hadn't been used in years. James screwed his nose up at the mothball smell.

"Really, Prongslet, you couldn't have picked a classroom that smelled better?"

Harry winced.

"I don't want everybody witnessing this. It was awkward enough bumping into you in front of everybody. This needs to be much more private."

James wondered what was so bad, Harry couldn't tell him in front of his friends. If Harry's anxious face and Padfoot's incessant fidgeting were anything to go by, their thoughts on his assumed reaction were not good. Harry cleared his throat.

"So, er, how much do you know about what happened after you, um…"

"Snuffed it? Kicked the bucket?" Sirius suggested. Harry rolled his eyes good-humouredly.

"Yeah, that."

James scratched his chin.

"Well, Madam Pomfrey explained how you cheated death. Nothing else, though." He looked up into Harry's worried eyes. "We made Dumbledore promise to give you to Sirius. That's where you should've gone."

He whirled around to look at Sirius. On closer inspection, his best mate was looking rather rough around the edges. His skin had a thin, sallow look, his hair didn't look like the glorious mane it had in the good old days, and his eyes were broken and hollow above the shadowed semi-circles, like a man who'd seen too much of the world. He may have not been dirty, or be covered in blood, but Sirius looked the opposite of perfect health. Even his clothes weren't in the best condition. With pain in his heart, James realised he looked a lot like when he'd ran away from home.

"Merlin's balls, Padfoot, what happened to you?"

Sirius looked at Harry almost desperately.

"I wasn't thinking straight, Prongs. I'm really sorry, because I didn't mean to abandon Harry, but I was furious."

It hit James.

"Harry didn't grow up with you, did he?" Both shook their heads. "Then… who did he grow up with? Moony?" Another shake of the head.

Harry broke the silence.

"Er… do you remember Mum's sister? Aunt Petunia?"

James felt like he was like a volcano, all bubbling and waiting for the moment to erupt.

"The Muggles who practically hated us?"

"Yeah. I lived with them, and they didn't treat me well. Which is an understatement, to be honest. They treated me like dirt." He said this all very fast, as if he thought it wouldn't anger James as much. It didn't work.

"PADFOOT! You said you'd take care of Harry! And yet you let him go through this? WHY?"

In a rush, Sirius stood up, and James was ashamed to see tears in his eyes.

"What do you think I kept thinking in Azkaban?!"

The room was sucked into silence as all colour left James' face.

"Padfoot…" he croaked at last. "Please tell me you didn't…"

Sirius barked a bitter laugh.

"Oh yes, I did. Cornered Wormtail on a street - the pesky rat killed 12 Muggles and faked his own death."

"What did you do, Padfoot?" James asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"He laughed," Harry butted in. "I remember overhearing Cornelius Fudge talking about it."

James shook his head in despair.

"You never did know when to keep your mouth shut."

Sirius slowly approached him.

"You'll forgive me, right?"

"For what?"

"For swapping Secret Keepers. I practically sentenced you and Lily to death. And then I abandoned Harry, just as he needed me. All the time in Azkaban, I just kept going over seeing your body on the stairs, and feeling my soul shatter into millions of pieces again and again and a-" Sirius's voice was rising in pitch and his eyes were watery - James could see the warning signs of a fit coming on. He grasped Sirius's shoulders tightly.

"Padfoot. I do not blame you for any of it. It was not your fault."

At these words, Sirius released 14 years of built up grief and guilt, and broke down into James's arms.

"I'm so, so happy you're back, Prongs." He murmured into James shoulder amidst quiet, unmanly sobs. A few seconds later, James felt the skinny arms of Harry wrap around the two of them. The three of them stood in the empty, unused classroom for a while, finally getting their private reunion.

After Harry explained everything about his past - some of the details worried James, some of them almost made him blow his top, and some made him go into hysterics - everyone noticed that the three of them walked around Hogwarts with much lighter gaits. Sirius and James were practically inseparable. They laughed together, sat next to each other, did everything together. The Marauders were given Harry's year's dorm, and Harry and Ron felt Neville, Seamus and Dean would have gaped at the things that went on while the Marauders used their beds.

A few weeks later, everyone was having lunch at the table, when Professor McGonagall came storming in angrily.

"Who enchanted the doorknobs to bite people's fingers?" She asked, with a pointed look at the twins. Then everything went quiet. One of the teachers stood up, and had turned a dark orange.

"Ooooh, someone's annoyed." the Marauders giggled, then fell about laughing, when everyone turned indignant and incredulous eyes upon them.

It didn't stop there - apparently the Marauders had decided to inflict upon Hogwarts the glories of James's return. All around the castle you could see people with colour-changing skin with floating stars, daisies and rainbows (after sitting on the wrong seat in a classroom), various colours and styles of hair, certain classrooms being completely upside-down, and a re-decorating job in the Great Hall, which included lots of gaudy, pink paint, ice, and twirling ballerina-style professors. The twins were hyperventilating at the sheer awesomeness, and the Golden trio thought it was the best day ever.

At the end of the day, Snape ventured into the Great Hall. This hadn't happened since he had realised James was back, and Bill said something to Charlie about him asking the house-elves to deliver food to his office, where he'd been holed up the entire day. Looking a bit like a shadow, he skirted around to sit down in a seat as far away as possible from the rejoicing Marauders. Remus leaned over to the others and whispered something in his ear. Both's eyebrows disappeared into their hairlines, and they looked incredulously at Snape. Then they both walked, a little sheepishly, up to Snape.

"Um… Moony just told us about how you made him Wolfsbane. We thought that was, er," James sounded like he was struggling to get the words out. "Erm, brave of you. We want to apologise for what we did in school, and agree to be at least civil to each other from now on." He stuck forward his hand. Snape looked at it with distaste. His beady, black eyes flickered to Sirius.

"You're not saying much, Black."

Sirius screwed up his face, like it was physically painful, but croaked a "Sorry."

Snape smirked and shook James's proffered hand.

"Civil it is, then."

* * *

 **I feel so guilty about leaving you guys such a long wait for the next chapter. The next chapters shouldn't be left so long, but I'm not making any promises. If you have any ideas on where you want the story to go, please inform me via review, but in a nice way, pretty please. Thank you to everyone who put forward their ideas on the post of 'Defensive Spells.' It really helped!**

 **Fangirl0103**


	6. Going to School

**See? I told you it wouldn't last long. In this chapter, I've taken quite a bit out of the book and condensed it, so if you recognise anything, that's because it's out of the book.**

 **Disclaimer: Yeah, no, I'm not anywhere near J.K. Rowling**

* * *

"Bye, Harry! Have a nice year!"

"Do some pranks, little Prongslet!"

"Or we'll send you Howlers!"

"Ignore your father and godfather. Please don't get into trouble, Harry!"

James, Sirius and Remus waved a beaming Harry off. It was a nice change, having people yell advice at him from the platform. He extracted his head from the window, and beckoned to Ron and Hermione.

"Come on, then. Let's go find a compartment."

Hermione and Ron made sympathetic faces.

"I'm really sorry, Harry, but me and Ron have to have a briefing from the Head Boy and Girl. Then we have to do patrols for a while." Harry felt a cold feeling in the bottom of his stomach.

"Okay, guys. I'll see you afterwards."

"Come on," Ginny told him. "Let's see if we can get places."

A little further down, right near the end of the train, they met Neville Longbottom, another Gryffindor in Harry's year.

"Hi, Harry," he smiled. "Hi, Ginny. Everywhere's full, I can't find a seat."

"Neville, there's room in this one, there's only Loony Lovegood in here-" said Ginny.

Neville mumbled something about not wanting to disturb anyone.

"Don't be silly, she's all right." Ginny laughed.

She slid the door open and pulled her trunk inside. Harry and Neville followed.

"Hi, Luna, can we sit here?"

The girl beside the window looked up. Harry knew at once why Neville had chosen to pass this compartment by. The girl gave off an aura of dottiness. She nodded.

"Thanks," said Ginny, smiling at her. "Had a good summer?"

"Yes," said Luna dreamily. "Yes, it was quite enjoyable, you know. You're Harry Potter," she added.

"I know I am," said Harry.

Ron and Hermione did not turn up for nearly an hour, by which time the food trolley had already gone by. Harry, Ginny, and Neville had finished their pumpkin pasties when the compartment door slid open and they walked in.

'Well, there are two fifth-year prefects from each house," said Hermione, looking thoroughly disgruntled as she took her seat. "Boy and girl from each."

"And guess who's a Slytherin prefect?" said Ron.

"Malfoy," replied Harry at once, certain his worst fear would be confirmed.

"'Course," said Ron bitterly, stuffing the rest of the Frog into his mouth and taking another.

"And that complete cow Pansy Parkinson," said Hermione viciously. 'How she got to be a prefect when she's thicker than a concussed troll...'

"We're supposed to patrol the corridors every so often," Ron told Harry and Neville, "and we can give out punishments if people are misbehaving. I can't wait to get Crabbe and Goyle for something..."

"You're not supposed to abuse your position, Ron!" said Hermione sharply.

"Yeah, right, because Malfoy won't abuse it at all," said Ron sarcastically.

"So you're going to descend to his level?"

"No, I'm just going to make sure I get his mates before he gets mine."

"For heaven's sake, Ron-"

"I'll make Goyle do lines, it'll kill him, he hates writing," said Ron happily. He lowered his voice to Goyle's low grunt and, screwing up his face in a look of pained concentration, mimed writing in midair. "I ... must ... not ... look ... like ... a ... baboon's ... backside."

Everyone laughed, especially Luna, much to everyone's amusement **.**

Much later, the train finally stopped at Hogsmeade station. Instead of Hagrid meeting the first years, it was Professor Grubbly Plank. The occupants of the compartment funnily enough, all pulled themselves into the same coach.

"Did everyone see that Grubbly-Plank woman?" asked Ginny. "What's she doing back here? Hagrid can't have left, can he?"

"I'll be quite glad if he has,' said Luna, "he isn't a very good teacher."

"Yes, he is!" said Harry, Ron and Ginny angrily.

Harry glared at Hermione. She cleared her throat and quickly said, "Erm ... yes ... he's very good."

"Well, we in Ravenclaw think he's a bit of a joke," said Luna, unfazed.

"You've got a rubbish sense of humour then," Ron snapped, as the wheels below them creaked into motion.

The carriages rattled up the road and stopped at Hogwarts. Harry thought about what his father, Sirius and Remus were doing now. Ron elbowed him in the side.

"Are you coming or what?"

"Oh ... yeah," said Harry quickly and they joined the crowd hurrying up the stone steps into the castle.

As everyone entered the Great Hall, there was a lot of quiet whispering. There was one chair more at the Staff table. Harry had a feeling of great superiority, knowing exactly why it was there. It soon dissipated as he caught sight of the pink monstrosity at the other end.

"The woman in pink! She was at my hearing!" he muttered to Ron and Hermione.

"Didn't Dumbledore add in the other post because a hag from the Ministry was teaching Defense?" Ron puzzled. Hermione nodded, but shushed him, because Professor McGonagall had come in with the first years, and was glaring at the students who were chattering.

With a last frowning look that swept the lour house tables, Professor McGonagall lowered her eyes to her long piece of parchment and called out the first name.

"Abercrombie, Euan."

The terrified-looking boy stumbled forwards and put the Hat on his head; it was only prevented from falling right down to his shoulders by his very prominent ears. The Hat considered for a moment, then the rip near the brim opened again and shouted:

"Gryffindor!"

Harry clapped loudly with the rest of Gryffindor house as Euan Abercrombie staggered to their table and sat down, looking as though he would like very much to sink through the floor and never be looked at again.

Slowly, the long line of first-years thinned. Finally, 'Zeller, Rose' was Sorted into Hufflepuff.

Everyone looked towards the staff table, waiting for Dumbledore to give the Start-of-Term notices. But he just smiled, announced, "I think you're hungry enough, already!" and started the feast.


	7. Going to School part 2

Almost immediately, Ron started cramming food into his mouth. The subject of conversation on the Gryffindor table was mainly focused on the empty seat.

"What do you think it's for?" Neville asked.

Straight away, Hermione answered, "Defensive Spells. New subject."

"How do you know that?" Dean gaped, impressed. Hermione gave a nonchalant shrug.

"I heard Ron's parents talking about it."

At this, Ron nudged Harry.

"Look - Malfoy! He's grumpy because he doesn't know!"

True enough, Malfoy was asking all around frantically for information about the mysterious chair.

"I wonder who the teacher will be?" Seamus wondered. "Maybe Dumbledore?"

"Nah." Ron dissuaded him. "Dumbledore's got other stuff going on."

Main course flew by, and then pudding, and suddenly, Dumbledore was standing up.

"I hope you're all well fed and rested. Now for the Start of Term notices." A quiet figure, much to the interest of the school, entered by a side-door. All the students could see was a head of messy, black hair. Harry felt a grin creep onto his face. "The Forbidden Forest is, as the name suggests, forbidden to all students. First years, take note of this. Maybe some of the older students, and even the teachers should as well." Harry grinned wider. There was no doubt in his mind of who it was now. Ron and Hermione looked as though they were catching on too. "Mr Filch, our esteemed caretaker, has asked me to remind students to take a look at the list of forbidden objects, which I believe has now reached a total of 394. The list is nailed onto Mr Filch's door, if anyone is interested. Please do not trip over it. Now, we have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Professor Umbridge kindly consented to fill the post. I wish her a warm welcome, and good luck!" The pink monstrosity stood up (although it was hard to tell) and there was a round of weak applause. Professor Dumbledore made to say more, but he was interrupted with a little "Hem hem."

Everyone's jaws fell open as the new teacher stepped forward. No one had interrupted Professor Dumbledore's speech before. She pressed on.

"I am so glad to come to Hogwarts. I can see all those lovely, smiling faces! I'm sure we'll become the best of friends." Her voice was sickly sweet, like she had had too many sweets at pudding. "At the ministry, we put education first. I'm sure you'll agree that everyone deserves the right education, and no one believes this more than I. I'm very excited to take up such an influential role at Hogwarts." She looked like she had a lot more to say, but Dumbledore interrupted her.

"Thank you, Professor Umbridge for those kind words of welcome. Now, my next announcement is that, for these troubled times, we need even more experience. So for the first time this year, for fourth years and above, we have opened the post of Defensive Spells." Whispered exclamations went around the hall at this. "So I have great pleasure in welcoming Professor Potter to take this prestigious post on." You could have cut the silence in the hall with a knife. Everyone was gawping at James, who had finally raised his head, with a smirk on it. He raised an eyebrow, and everyone started clapping hesitantly. As the lukewarm applause died down, Professor Dumbledore once again stood up. "Now, I think that is all. Off you pop to bed, now!" Whilst everyone made their way out of the door, unashamedly staring at the previously dead person, James dodged his way over to Harry and his friends.

"So? What do you think?" James looked nervous, so Harry gave him his biggest smile ever.

"I think it's brilliant."

James sighed in relief.

"Oh, thank Merlin. I was really worried you wouldn't like it. Anyway, so Padfoot can help me in my lessons, we need to clear his name. Can you guys come up to Dumbledore's office, please?" The Golden Trio nodded, and followed.

Once they arrived it was to see a faintly amused Dumbledore, an already slightly flustered Umbridge, an uncomfortable Fudge, a keen Percy Weasley and two Aurors Harry didn't recognise crowded into the office, standing alongside Snuffles. James winked quickly at the dog, which snorted in a doggy sort of way at him.

"Ah, James, Harry, Hermione and Ron. Come on in." Dumbledore was definitely happy about the situation. All four entered the office.

"So, um, Harry, I suppose you remember the end of your third year?" Fudge asked. Harry nodded. "Well, apparently, James Potter here can give proof that Sirius Black is innocent." He raised an eyebrow at James.

"Yes I can."

"So, you three need to be witnesses. Erm, Dumbledore, do you want to get the Veritaserum?" Dumbledore smiled, and motioned to a vial on his desk. Harry looked up at James, who winked and knocked back the potion. Fudge cleared his throat.

"What is your name?"

"James Henry Potter."

"Who was your father?"

"Fleamont Harold Potter."

"What evidence can you give us about your betrayal?"

"I changed my secret keeper from Sirius Orion Black to Peter Enid Pettigrew. Peter was a spy for Lord Voldemort and betrayed me. Sirius realised Peter had sold me out and tried to get even. Peter escaped in the form of a rat."

"And WHY could he transform into a rat?!"

Dumbledore quickly passed James the antidote secretly before he could answer, gave a quick wink at Harry and flicked his wand. Something exploded directly behind Fudge, and while Umbridge and Fudge were fussing, James quickly drank the antidote.

Fudge shook his head to clear it of confusion.

"Where were we? Ah, yes, why could Peter Pettigrew turn into a rat?"

"Peter was an illegal Animagus. We had no idea."

Fudge sighed.

"Well, rock solid evidence like that, given under Veritaserum, I supposed can't be contradicted. Now, if Weasley could just draw up a contract-" he looked at Percy, who scribbled away at some parchment, then passed it to Fudge. "-Dumbledore, you'll need to sign it, as will you, Mr Potter, and you three kids, as witnesses. But how the devil am I going to get hold of Sirius Black?"

James smiled.

"I'll send him a letter. I need to take my dog for a walk anyway - thank you for keeping a hold on him, Dumbledore. Come one, Snuffles."

James walked out the door, and silence fell upon the room. Ten minutes later he came back with Sirius, who winked cheekily at Fudge.

"Hello, Minister. So, where am I signing?"

A bewildered Fudge motioned with his quill, and a few minutes later all five of them burst out the door, grinning wildly. James and Sirius said goodnight to the kids, and they set off towards their various rooms. As soon as Harry and Ron entered the dorm room, they were accosted by the other three.

"Blimey, Harry, it's your dad! Back from the dead!" Seamus smiled at him.

"I know, it's great!" Harry replied.

"How is he? Is he nice?" Neville asked anxiously. He already was worrying about the new class.

"He's fantastic." Harry answered. "I couldn't have asked for a better dad."

'Where did you go, guys? You've been off for ages. We were wondering where you'd got to." Dean raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, we had to talk with Dumbledore." Ron answered vaguely. "Now, I'd like to get some sleep - good night."

The others murmured goodnight back, and as Harry changed and got into bed, he smiled to himself, thinking about the reactions of the Dursleys, and the fact that he probably wouldn't have to go back this summer. Life looked like it was only going to get better.

* * *

 **Look how long this chapter is! My longest yet. As usual, please read and review, next chapter will be about Harry's first day - in particular, his first lesson with his dad.**

 **Fangirl0103**


	8. Lessons Again part 1

**I am now being optimistic. I am uploading every Tuesday.**

 **Oh, and the bit with Umbridge is just so wonderful, I had to put it in there.**

 **Disclaimer: I am only allowed to play in JK Rowling's wonderful world. It does not belong to me.**

* * *

Harry woke up the next day in his dormitory and rubbed his bleary eyes, yawning as he stuffed his feet into his slippers to avoid the chill that always permeated the dormitories in the morning. He felt strangely elated, but he couldn't remember for the life of him what for. The last night's events came rushing back to him, and a grin spread involuntarily upon his face. Sirius was finally free, and his dad was going to be teaching him! He fumbled about for his glasses and shook Ron awake.

"Come on, Ron, wake up! Breakfast!" Ron mumbled sleepily and squinted up at Harry.

"Harry? Why do you have to wake me up this early?"

"Because, Ron, I want to see whether I've got my dad today."

This jumped Ron awake with a start. Both boys got ready in record time, and Hermione came downstairs to see them waiting for her - which was a real change.

"What's got you two so excited?" She asked curiously. Both boys shrugged in answer.

"We want to see whether we've got Harry's dad!" Ron was already making for the door.

As they got to the Great Hall, they looked up to see the mail arrive. Hermione caught her copy of the Daily Prophet, and proceeded to disappear behind it. Harry looked up at the staff table (quietly noticing Hagrid wasn't there) and smiled happily at his dad, who winked at him and motioned with his head. Harry had to struggle to contain snickers when he saw Snuffles sitting next to him, eating what seemed to be a huge breakfast off a plate, and attracting outraged glares from the teachers. They evidently thought it was a bit undignified to share a table with a dog.

McGonagall was handing out the timetables, and Ron groaned as soon as he got it.

"Look at this! History of Magic, Double Potions, Divination and Defense Against the Dark Arts, all in one day! And a Monday, on top of that."

Harry glanced at his own timetable.

"Yeah, but we've got my dad afterwards. That makes up for it."

Ron shrugged.

"Yeah, that's pretty decent."

History of Magic was as mind-numbingly boring as ever, and Harry spent the majority of it playing hangman. After the dreadful hour and a half, the reluctant Gryffindors dragged themselves down to the dungeons for double Potions. 3 hours of torture, Harry thought. Now his dad was back to life, Snape was inevitably going to be more vindictive than ever.

They reached the dungeons and filed in. Snape was standing at the front, beadily eyeing them. When he saw Harry the skin around his eyes tightened and he sneered a little, but otherwise made no outward sign that he'd seen Harry. Snape flicked his wand lazily towards the board.

"Before we begin, I think it fit to remind you that in June you will be taking your OWLs. If some of you want to proceed to NEWT level, I don't take any students below Outstanding. On the board are the instructions for making a Draught of Peace, something that usually comes up in OWLS. Start."

Everyone silently got out their equipment and started to work. By the end of the 3 hours, Snape hadn't punished Neville or Harry, and the class were exchanging looks of utter bewilderment. Until Ron leaned over to Harry.

"Snape and your dad have just made up - and you saw Snape when we first met your dad. I bet he's making sure not to get on his bad side!"

This proceeded to make Harry smirk throughout break, right up to lunch.

Divination was all about dreams. Ron and Harry had great fun interpreting each other's rather interesting 'dreams'. Harry had one - the only one he'd had apart from the regular appearance of the graveyard - which meant he would be gored by a stag, according to Trelawney. This served as a great source of amusement for the two, considering James's Animagus form, and Trelawney looked most put out that they weren't running for the hills.

Eventually the last two lessons of the day came. The fifth years entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, to see Professor Umbridge standing at the front. Harry was forcibly reminded of a giant, pink, flabby toad. Once they were all sitting down, Umbridge smiled a clearly meant to be friendly, but looked more sinister smile.

"Good afternoon, class. Wands away, please."

They all exchanged looks. That command had never been followed by an enjoyable lesson.

"Now, your learning in this subject has been rather fragmented, hasn't it? Dearie me, one teacher every year! Well, today we are going to return to basic principles. The basic aims for this year, and hopefully the following years, are on the board." She took out an unusually short wand and tapped the board. Swirly, cursive writing appeared there:

Course Aims:

1\. Understanding the principles underlying defensive magic.

2\. Learning to recognise situations in which defensive magic can legally be used

3\. Placing the use of defensive magic in a context for practical use.

"Please turn to page five in your Defensive Magical Theory books, by William Slinkhard, and read Chapter 1: Basics for Beginners. There will be no need to talk."

The rest of the class went incredibly badly. Hermione whispered to Harry the most probable reason Dumbledore had thought it wise to open the post of Defensive Spells - it didn't look like Umbridge was planning to teach them magic at all. Being Hermione, she asked.

"Excuse me - Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes, dear?"

"I couldn't help but question some of your course aims. I'm not sure, but I can't see anything about using Defensive Magic."

Umbridge raised an eyebrow.

"It is the view of the Ministry, that a theoretical approach is best for this subject."

There were indignant mutterings all around the class.

"We're not going to use magic? But what about the practical part of our exam?" Ron asked incredulously. Umbridge sniffed.

"If you study it hard enough, you should be able to perform the spell. Now, you've had some rather awful teachers in this subject, including filthy half-breeds-"

"If you mean Professor Lupin, he was the best teacher we ever had." Dean said hotly.

Umbridge only trilled,

"Your hand is not up, Mr Thomas!" When he resolutely raised his fist in the air, she promptly turned her back on him. "And, I've heard my predecessor practiced dark spells on you!"

"Yeah, well, he was a maniac, wasn't he? Mind you, we still learned loads." Ron called out angrily. Umbridge repeated her point.

"If you all study the theory hard enough-"

"What use is theory going to be in the real world?" Harry asked, his blood thundering through his head and boiling in his veins.

"Mr Potter, I can't think why you'd be in any danger in the 'real world.' Who'd want to attack poor little children like yourselves?" Umbridge asked in her sickly sweet voice. Harry pretended to think.

"Oh, I don't know - Lord Voldemort?"

Umbridge turned white.

"Mr Potter. I will not have you spreading lies about a certain Dark Wizard being back. Detention this evening, and 10 points from Gryffindor."

This made Harry livid.

"So, Cedric Diggory dropped dead of his own accord?"


	9. Lessons Again part 2

The class held bated breath.

"Come here, Mr Potter." Umbridge said in silky, horribly honeyed tones. She scribbled something on a note. "Take that to your Head of House, please."

Harry left the classroom, still absolutely furious. His feet trod the well-worn path to Professor McGonagall's office. And bumped straight into Peeves.

"Oh, get out of it, Peeves."

"Oooh, someone's angry today! Hearing voices? Speaking in tongues?" He blew a giant raspberry.

"I said, go away, Peeves!"

The poltergeist cackled, and burst into song.

"Oh, most think he's barking, the wee potty lad,

Some are more kindly, and say that he's sad,

But Peevesy knows better and says that he's mad-"

"SHUT UP!"

"Mr Potter!"

Professor McGonagall came bursting out of her office. "What in heaven's name is the matter?"

Harry wordlessly gave her the note. As she read it, her eyebrows receded higher and higher into her hair.

"Come in, Potter."

Harry stepped into her office, and looked around, before sitting in a tartan chair. Professor McGonagall sighed.

"Is it true that you shouted at Professor Umbridge?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"You called her a liar?"

"Yes."

"You told her He Who Must Not Be Named is back?"

"Yes."

Professor McGonagall sat down behind her desk, watching Harry closely. Then she said, "Have a biscuit, Potter."

"Have a- what?"

"Have a biscuit. Goodness knows, Potter, whatever you do, please control your anger in Dolores Umbridge's class. She is not someone you want as your enemy. Now, take a ginger newt and go to your next class."

Harry stumbled to the until recently abandoned classroom they would be using for Defensive Spells, feeling very confused and wrong-footed. Ron and Hermione both came rushing up to him.

"What happened, Harry?"

"How badly did she tell you off, mate?"

Harry shrugged. "She didn't tell me off at all. She just gave me a biscuit."

The other two stared open-mouthed at him. Then Hermione focused on something behind Harry.

"Oh no."

Draco Malfoy and his Slytherin cronies sauntered up to the doorway.

"Well, if it isn't Potty and his Weasel."

Hermione tossed her hair over one shoulder.

"Come on guys, let's find a seat. I don't want this lesson ruined."

They spent the next ten minutes wondering where the teacher was. Malfoy flung bits of paper at Harry, with rude comments on. Ron and Hermione were arguing when the whole class shushed to hear pounding footsteps outside. Then they heard the shouts.

"Professor Potter, the Slytherins are bullying me again!"

"Professor Potter, I need help with this piece of work!"

"Professor, can't you sort this out?"

"Shut up, both of you!"

"Race you to the classroom!"

"No fair, Moony!"

Remus Lupin came skidding into the classroom.

"I'm here!"

He was closely followed - to many gawping mouths - by Sirius Black.

"I'm queer!"

Finally James Potter came sliding in.

"I'm a deer!" All three of them sniggered.

"Ah, I remember doing that to poor Minnie. How she hated it." Sirius reminisced.

Lavender tentatively raised a head.

"Sorry, sir, but do you realise you're 10 minutes late?"

Both Sirius and James looked at Remus, who raised his eyes sky high, and replied heavily, "I'm a-were.", much to the snickers of the class.

James clapped his hands and strode to the front of the classroom.

"Alright then. As you know, I am Professor Potter. These are my two assistants. I believe you have already met Mr Lupin. Call him Remus, otherwise it'll confuse me."

Remus waved to the class, who all smiled back.

"And this is Sirius. He is now a free man, please don't call the Ministry. Right, shall we get started?"

James grinned round at them all.

Sirius whined from the back, "Moony, why'd we have to teach Slytherins?"

Remus answered, "Shut up, Padfoot - or you won't be getting that reward tonight."

James glared at the smug Remus and the heavily blushing Sirius, while the class puzzled under their breath about what on earth the two 'assistants' could mean. James had to clear his throat to get their attention.

"Today we will be learning about the Patronus Charm. Who can tell me about this spell? Hermione?"

"A kind of Anti-Dementor – a guardian which acts as a shield between you and the Dementor or Lethifold. It's also a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon – hope, happiness, the desire to survive – but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it."

"Excellent, Hermione, take 10 points for Gryffindor. A Patronus can be non-corporeal, or corporeal. Basically, it can be mist, or a silver thing. A Patronus doesn't always have to be an animal, and it can change in time. I won't expect you all to get much farther than mist today, but we'll do several lessons on it. We will now demonstrate various Patronuses."

James flicked his wand, and a stately stag bounded from it, and pranced around the room. It was joined by a dog from Sirius's, and a wolf from Remus's.

"Right. If you'll separate into pairs and start practicing. Think of a truly happy memory, and say the incantation Expecto Patronum. The first person who can get silver mist will earn 20 points, and the first person to get a corporeal patronus, will earn 50 points."

They smiled at how the class perked up at the mention of points.

Before Harry and Ron could start, James hurried over.

"How am I doing?" he asked worriedly. Harry smiled, to put his anxiety at rest.

"This is brilliant! Patronuses are good to start with, even if we won't be able to form one."

James beamed.

"Brilliant. This teaching lark isn't as bad as it seems, although Moony and Padfoot are giving me hell about it." He mock glared at the two other men. Sirius was demonstrating to the Gryffindors, since he refused to go anywhere near the Slytherins, which left an awkward Remus trying to show a bunch of bigoted, fifth-year Slytherins how to produce the Patronus. He kept looking at Sirius crossly, but Sirius just winked at him and Remus turned around again, with a hint of pink in his cheeks. Harry turned back to James, who was looking at him expectantly.

"So, how has your day been so far?"

Harry shrugged.

"It was alright. We had Potions, and Snape didn't bully me to bad-"

"I think he's scared of you," Ron interjected. Harry ploughed on.

"History of Magic, which was boring as usual, Divination, where she predicted my death for the millionth time-"

James chuckled. "Yeah, she did that to us too. We never could take her seriously though, especially after she told Sirius he had the Grim."

Ron raised an eyebrow, confused, and James hastily explained.

"Padfoot transforms into the Grim."

As Ron snorted, Hermione bustled over.

"Harry got detention in Defence Against the Dark Arts from that foul Umbridge woman." James stared at Harry, then started grinning.

"Ah, shame on you, Prongslet! First day? Pathetic. Oi, Padfoot, when was our earliest detention?" He called across the room. With an easy smile, Sirius replied,

"On the station, wasn't it? I seem to remember something about you serenading Lily!"

James rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah. Hey, Harry, mind coming to my rooms after your detention?"

Harry nodded. He definitely was up for as much father-son time as he could wrangle.

Hermione suddenly elbowed Ron and pointed over to Malfoy, who was spouting silver smoke with a smug expression. To both James and Sirius's chagrin, Remus awarded him 20 points.

"Dammit!" muttered James. "I was hoping I could get 70 points for Gryffindor."

"You try, Ron." Harry nudged him. Ron screwed up his face in determination, with a slight smile. He was evidently thinking of a good memory.

"Expecto Patronum!" Silver mist swirled from the end of Ron's wand and glittered around them. Ron leaned over, not bothering to keep his voice low, and said,

"I was imagining Malfoy as a ferret again."

Harry sniggered as Malfoy's cheeks blushed faintly, then winked at Ron. He knew just how to wipe the smirk of Malfoy's face.

"Expecto Patronum!"

Harry's stag bounded around the room, to many gasps. James stared in wonder at the exact copy of his, and beamed in delight when he saw it was Harry's. He made no hesitation in awarding Harry the 50 points, and Harry felt the lesson had more than made up for the unsatisfactory Defence Against the Dark Arts.

* * *

 **You know how I said last chapter was longest?**

 **Yeah, this one beats it by a mile, so I had to split it into two!**

 **Well, what do you think?**

 **Btw, if you want Wolfstar, please inform me by review - I've put a few little hints in there, but I need your opinions! After all, you're the ones reading it.**

 **Leave me a review, pretty please?**

 **Fangirl0103**


	10. Detention

**With the Wolfstar thing - I'll put some slightly obvious hints in there, but I won't come out and say it.**

 **Disclaimer: It was a sad day I realised Harry Potter didn't belong to me.**

* * *

Harry looked up at the clock with a groan. Brilliant. Detention with the Pink Toad Queen was drawing ever closer, and it was fair to say that Harry wasn't looking forward to it. The three had left dinner early, since Harry's shouting match had zoomed around the school rather quickly even by Hogwart's standards, and lots of people were half-hoping that he'd lose his temper again, so they could hear the whole story. After a while, Harry couldn't take it, and the three had retreated to the Common Room. Hermione was stomping around in a rage.

"I mean, how could Dumbledore let this happen!" she exclaimed. "In our OWL year, as well!"

Ron looked slightly terrified of the irate Hermione.

"Yeah, but we've had other awful ones as well; look at Lockhart! I pity the ones who got him in their OWL year."

Hermione shook her head.

"Yes, but this utter hag's not even letting us do magic!"

At that moment, a tawny barn owl swept into the room and settled on the table in front of Harry, sticking it's leg out as it went. Harry unfurled the letter and glanced through it.

"Hey, my dad wants me to come and see him after detention! He says you two can come too."

"Well, write a reply, then." Hermione nudged him towards the owl. Harry took out a spare bit of parchment out of his bag, and scribbled a quick reply, then gave it to the owl, who immediately departed on silent wings.

"I think I'll take the Invisibility Cloak, just in case." he said to Hermione and Ron, who nodded.

"That's a good idea, Harry. Just make sure that evil toad doesn't catch you with it…" And Hermione was off again, on another rant about Umbridge. Harry wouldn't have been surprised if sometime in the near future, Hermione would start up S.H.T.U. (the Society of Hatred Towards Umbridge.) He would certainly join.

Harry stood up abruptly. Hermione broke off her tirade and looked at him, startled, while Ron cocked an eyebrow questioningly.

"Detention."

"Good luck, mate."

Quickly, Harry rushed up stairs, snatched the ever-useful Invisibility Cloak, said a final goodbye to his friends and ducked out the portrait a heavy heart, he trudged up the varying staircases and through the twisting corridors, to Professor Umbridge's office.

After what seemed like too quick a time, he arrived at the door of the hated professor's office. He knocked.

"Enter." he heard Umbridge's voice call, and he pushed the door open. It took Harry's eyes a while to adjust to the sudden onslaught of pink and cats. There were far too many cats. And everything was pink - it was enough to make Harry's stomach turn. And right in the middle sat the old hag herself.

"Good evening, Mr Potter. Today you will be writing lines. Oh no," she started when Harry reached for his quill, "Not with your quill. You'll be using a special one of mine."

She handed him a black quill with an unusually sharp end. It looked lethal. Resignedly, Harry dropped his satchel and plunked into a chair with a writing desk in front of it. "Now, I want you to write, 'I must not tell lies.'"

Harry looked at her through gritted teeth.

"How many times?"

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to… sink in."

"You haven't given me any ink."

Umbridge leered at him. "Well, I don't think you'll need any."

Harry began to scratch the sentence into the paper with red ink. At the same time his left hand began itching uncontrollably. Suddenly, to his horror, the words appeared on the back of his hand. Harry suddenly realised that he was writing in his own blood.

"Is there a problem, dear?" He looked up at Umbridge's sweetly smiling face, clenched his jaw, and shook his head. He'd be buggered if he'd let her see she'd got to him.

An excruciating hour later, Harry exited the classroom with instructions to come back tomorrow and his left hand looking sore and inflamed. As soon as he left, he bumped into Ron and Hermione, and threw the Cloak over them. They made their way up to the tower where his dad, Sirius and Remus currently resided and knocked on the door. James opened it with a confused look.

"It's us, Dad - wearing the Cloak." James quickly realised and stepped aside, shutting the door behind them.

"Great! You inherited the Cloak - I was wondering where that went." Sirius exited the bedroom, looking slightly red and flustered, but grinning at the three.

"Hey you guys! Oi, Prongs, where'd you put the scar treatment? Moony can't find it."

James shrugged. "Shouldn't it be in the cabinet? Why do you need it, anyway? Full moon's in a week."

Remus' voice echoed from the en-suite in the bathroom.

"I like to be safe, James, and if I can find it now, it will save me a lot of pain when I'm all scratched up!" There was a sudden crash, and Sirius rolled his eyes, muttering, "Damn wolf, doesn't know when to accept help.", before striding into the bathroom. They emerged back into the living room later, Remus' hair looking a bit mussed.

"So, Harry, how'd detention with Umbridge go?" James asked. Harry glanced sheepishly at his hand, which was still sore.

"Not so good. She's an evil hag." Sirius barked a laugh, and James grinned, but Remus' eyes were trained on the scar.

"Harry, what's that on your hand?" Harry automatically pulled his robes over his hand.

"Nothing."

James quickly leant over and pulled up his robes to his elbow. As everyone saw the red, inflamed hand, they gasped. But it seemed to have the most profound effect on Sirius, who turned white and started shaking.

"Harry, did she make you write with a black, sharp quill?" Harry nodded, and Sirius sank onto the sofa.

"What is it, Pads?" Remus asked, concerned.

"My parents used to use those quills on me and Reg. They cut into your hand like a scalpel, then heal it over. It's not Dark magic, since if you only use it once it doesn't hurt so much, but those quills are still illegal."

The three kids looked at each other, before Hermione said tentatively, "Your parents used those… on you?"

Sirius drew back his sleeve. On the back of his hand there was etched the words 'Disgrace to the family'. Hermione gasped, appalled, and Harry and Ron winced. Everyone was so caught up in their thoughts, that they were all startled when James jumpt to his feet.

"I'm not letting the disgusting old hag get away with this!" He paced up and down, livid. "I'm going to give her a piece of my mind - first not believing Voldemort's back, then inflicting child abuse; I'll have her sacked, and possibly thrown in Azkaban. How dare she do this to my son! My-" He would've continued, but Harry practically knocked him off his feet with a giant hug. Remus, tactful as always, noticed the two needed a bit of privacy.

"Come on, Sirius, let's take these two back to their dormitories. It's past curfew - I need to go to the library, anyway." Together with Sirius, they escorted Ron and Hermione from the office. James launched in.

"What's wrong, Prongslet?"

Harry sniffled, and muttered, "No one's really cared about me that much before."

James sighed.

"Oh, Harry."

They stayed that way for quite a while, until James walked with Harry to bed.

The next morning, Umbridge was sacked. Remus agreed to fill in for the rest of the year (much to the school's delight). James winked at Harry, who grinned. Things were looking up.

* * *

 **I'm thinking of wrapping the story up soon, which is why I need opinions. Use the 'review' box down there to 1) tell me what you think and 2)suggest a way for me to create how James was brought back to life. I'm going to write one chapter about Quidditch because James needs to see Harry fly at least, a chapter called 'Speculations', where answers are revealed, and then an epilogue where Harry is going home for the summer in quite a different fashion than he has before (the Dursleys don't know that James is alive yet, remember.) So, yes. There will be some stuff later on, but the story is coming to a close, because I am running out of creative juices.**

 **As I said before, please review, congrats on putting up with me so far, and I hope you liked the chapter.**

 **Marauder0103**


	11. Author's Note 2

**I'm so sorry about the long wait - I'm really, really busy. Feel free to review for ideas for what the characters could get up to, but I won't be uploading for a while, since I'm trying to finish it completely, as well as doing other stories. Sorry!**

 **Marauder0103**


	12. Quidditch Practice!

**Oops! Sorry for the lack of update - I've been really busy editing other stories, and writing some more. I have so many unfinished stories that I'm trying to get done, this one is kind of taking a back seat, since it's in quite a good place. Please be patient with me.**

 **I'm fulfilling my fangirl dreams in this chapter - I always have loved to imagine James playing Quidditch with Harry, or at least seeing him play. So I hope you like the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: Is James alive in the books? No.**

* * *

Harry came bursting into James' office, eyes sparkling and out of breath, hair everywhere. The Marauders, who'd been chatting over Firewhiskey, looked up sharply.

"What's wrong, Prongslet?" James asked worriedly.

Harry grinned.

"Quidditch practice! I thought you might want to see!"

James jumped up in excitement, to the amusement of the other Marauders.

"Yes! I mean," he hastily corrected himself, "I'd love to come. Let me just…" he disappeared into his bedroom and emerged, much to the cackles of Sirius and Remus, in red and gold Quidditch uniform.

"Mate, is that your old uniform?" Sirius got out between gasps of laughter. James looked sheepish.

"Maybe. I'm excited, okay?" He defended himself. "Let's go, Harry."

"Wait!" With a flick of his wand, Sirius changed his casual robes into the same as James. "Now we can go."

On the way to the Quidditch pitch, James quizzed Harry on the Quidditch results in the past years, while Sirius whistled.

"When did you get on the team?"

"First year - I made a dive on my broom in our first flying lesson, McGonagall took me to see the Quidditch captain, got me a broom, and made me Seeker."

James roared with laughter. "Trust Minnie to put Quidditch before punishment. The amount of detentions Sirius and I got out of because of Quidditch was unbelievable. It infuriated Remus and Lily to the extreme."

Harry smiled. It was nice to hear about Quidditch from his dad.

"So… how many times have Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup?"

"Oh, well, I was in the Hospital Wing for First and Second year, and Quidditch was cancelled in Fourth year, but we won in Third year."

"Quidditch was cancelled?!" Harry laughed at his dad and Sirius' outrage.

"Yeah, for the Triwizard Tournament. It's okay, though. We've got it this year."

By this time, they'd reached the Quidditch field. James started bouncing up and down in glee.

"Cool it, Prongs!" Sirius laughed. "It won't disappear."

"Oh, go fetch a bludger." James half scowled, half grinned. Sirius rolled his eyes in sarcasm.

"Real mature, Prongs, dog puns. Do you want me to bust out the deers?"

Harry laughed at his father's pale face, and the squeaked "No!". But the tables were turned when he spotted Angelina, the new Quidditch captain, storming towards him. He turned to the Marauders, who were laughing at him.

"Help me!"

Sirius clapped him on the back.

"Just you wait - half the Quidditch awards have got our names on, mostly James'. You'd be hard pressed to find more easily accessible, brilliant coaches. We've got your back."

"Harry, why have you brought your dad and your godfather to the practice?"

Angelina was mad. Harry stuttered while James and Sirius smirked behind him. Finally James spoke up.

"We thought we'd help you train. After all, Gryffindor's got to win the Cup."

Angelina was still not buying it.

"I thought teachers weren't meant to be biased."

Sirius rolled his eyes.

"That's something Remus would say. We're MARAUDERS. Of course we're going to help you win."  
Angelina shrugged, and beckoned to them.

"Oh, well. We're testing Keepers today. It would be good, to have some leading expertise."

Sirius smirked at James.

"Oh, we'll help you choose, all right."

Harry watched as the first few Keepers flew up. They didn't save hardly any of the goals Angelina threw at them. There were the same first years, that couldn't fly, some participants from other houses that wanted to sabotage Gryffindor, and some okay flyers, but none really stood out to Harry. Or James and Sirius. By the time Ron got up to fly (looking decidedly green) Angelina had thanked Harry about five times for bringing Sirius and James along.

"I don't know what I would've done without their help, to be honest," she confessed to Harry. "They've been invaluable."

Sirius was cheering Ron on as he saved mostly all of the shots sent his way. He dropped one, but that was mainly out of nerves. James strolled over.

"Ron has talent; if I train him up a bit, he could be a cracking Keeper."

"You coming, Harry?" Ron bellowed from the other side of the pitch, prepared to celebrate getting on the team in the nice, warm common room.

"I'm just going to fly with my dad for a bit," Harry yelled back. "See you there."

James grinned at Harry, before kicking off the ground with his broom. They stayed out until it was dark, swooping around each other with cackles of mad laughter, racing each other, and generally having father-son time, that they'd never had before. Harry was pink-cheeked, and grinning. At last, they touched down on the ground. James beckoned over at Harry.

"Come here - I want to show you something."

Once Harry reached him, he took a picture out of his pocket. It was a picture of him and Harry's mum, in Hogwarts graduation robes. He kept kissing her on the cheek, and she would swat him on the arm. Harry could see Sirius and Remus laughing, and making kissy faces from a little way off, one of Sirius' arms slung around Remus' shoulder. Harry stared at the picture, tears welling up in his eyes. He felt his dad breathe out.

"Merlin, I miss her so much. Every time I see a picture of her, it just hits me all over again. Every time I asked her out, every time she rejected me, I loved her a little more. When she finally agreed to go out with me, I thought I would burst. Sirius and Remus can testify - I lay on my bed grinning like an idiot for ages. I think they were glad as well, because they didn't have to listen to me continuously moaning about her ever again. When we got married, I… I was just so elated. Despite Sirius' incriminating best man speech." He let out a watery chuckle. "I didn't think I'd ever be that happy ever again, and then you came along, and lit up my world. I miss her, and I always will, but now I have you." He looked down at Harry, who gazed up at him, his throat catching.

"Love you, Dad."

"Love you, too, Harry."


	13. Epilogue

_Half a year later…_

Ron stuck his head out the window, grinning.

"We're almost back!" He said to the other two people sitting in the compartment with him. "And this year, we're all going to do secret stuff against You-Know-Who! We'll be spies!" said Hermione happily, carefully stroking Crookshanks. The first time James saw him, he said, "Merlin! That's my cat!" and ever since Hermione had been keeping good care of the cat. Harry didn't care that it was technically his; Hermione adored Crookshanks, and his dad said he would get him any pet he wanted. He still thought it was quite cool, though.

Surprisingly, Harry wasn't sad that he was near King's Cross - actually, he was rather excited about the upcoming summer. After all, no more Dursleys for him! His dad, and his fellow Marauders, had gone home early (leaving Dumbledore in charge of both DADA and defensive spells, which were merging again) and fixed up their old house in Godric's Hollow. James had promised Harry that everyone was going to come round frequently, that Harry would have a massive birthday party, and that he was going to spoil Harry within an inch of his life. Harry was quite looking forward to it.

Finally, the station came into view. Hermione and Ron dragged their cases outside and left them with their respective families, and walked back over. Ron grinned at Harry.

"What? I want to see their reactions."

Harry burst into the daylight of King's Cross to see the Dursleys glaring at him.

"Well, hurry up boy, we haven't got all day!" Uncle Vernon barked, his face turning purple. Harry just grinned, as he could see who was behind him.

"Ah, Vermin! As horrible as usual, I see. Nothing's changed then?" Uncle Vernon spun around, protests at being called Vermin dying on his lips as he saw who had spoken. Both he and Aunt Petunia grew rapidly white as they saw James.

"YOU!" Vernon spluttered. "You're dead!"

James grinned.

"Funnily enough, I know that! Quite a weird experience. I came back to life last summer, and I will be taking my son back, thanks." He leaned in closer to Uncle Vernon. "I'm sure we'll have lots of lovely talks about how you've treated him." He looked at Harry, Ron and Hermione, who were all beaming. "Come along, Harry." James nodded at Aunt Petunia, who flushed and gave a small, wry smile, winked at Dudley, who just stared openmouthed, pretended to tip a hat at Uncle Vernon, who gasped like a fish out of water, and sauntered back to Sirius and Remus, who were laughing their heads off. Harry smirked at the Dursleys, and followed him. Life was going to get much better from here.

* * *

 **Sorry! I know, I know, I'm an awful writer, but I have so many unfinished fanfics on my plate, especially since I've started writing others too, this one is just going to take too long. If anyone wants to do one of any other moments in his fifth, sixth, seventh or any other time, they are welcome to. I'll let your minds take you wherever you want to go with it.**

 **Fangirl0103**


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